Councillors defend their position on cafe

Whitley Bay councillors have defended their stance over plans to demolish a popular seafront cafe.

Conservative councillors had questioned why Labour’s ward councillors had remained silent over plans to knock down the Boardwalk Cafe despite objections from residents.

Last week, Tory group leader Coun Judith Wallace said her party had not been consulted on the plans.

But Labour members for Whitley Bay said they had been briefed on the issue but reluctantly accepted the business was not viable.

Coun Sandra Graham said: “Despite several attempts to try and make the business viable and a going concern in this location; it has proved that it is not a sustainable position for all year round business.”

Fellow councillor John O’Shea said: “I think that Coun Wallace has been hypocritical in that the cafe is not even in the ward that she represents and the previous Tory Mayor never consulted local Whitley Bay councillors on issues affecting their ward.”

Coun Margaret Hall, recently elected for Whitley Bay, said: “This issue has rather detracted from the significant regeneration of the sea front.

“Although this one building is a sad loss, it must be set against the wider vision of the regeneration of the North promenade area that I am sure everyone in Whitley Bay and general North Tyneside area would like to see after years of unfulfilled promises.”

Coun O’Shea added: “Preparatory work inside the Dome is ongoing and hopefully within a few months scaffolding will be going up around it for the external works to commence. There is lots of work to be done in Whitley Bay and we are pushing hard to deliver this.”

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